Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Pulsatility Is A Predictive Marker Of Improved Cardiac Function In Patients With Liquid Matrix-Treated Left Ventricular Assist Devices, Philemon Mikail, Rinku Skaria, Marvin Slepian, Janny Garcia, Richard Smith, Zain Khalpey

The VAD Journal

Objective: Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are utilized as a bridge to transplant or as destination therapy for patients with end-stage heart failure. Although cardiac offloading from these devices rarely leads to complete remodeling and functional recovery, the use of mesenchymal cells to modulate heart failure has been explored in recent years due to its intrinsic regenerative properties. Current methods of evaluating cardiac function have too much variability, difficulty of access, or require too frequent follow up to create universal weaning protocols. We hypothesized that the administration of amniotic allograft liquid matrix (LM) containing amnion-derived mesenchymal stem cells (aMSCs) in …

Application Of Probabilistic Methods To Turbine Engine Disk Life Prediction And Risk Assessment, Paul Copp, Ashley Whitney-Rawls, Jace Carter, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Turbine engine disk life prediction and understanding the associated risk remains a significant challenge for today’s designer. Despite advances made in materials testing and characterization, as well as, the application of damage tolerance and linear elastic fracture mechanics modeling, there remains a void in properly assessing loading, geometry, and material design property variability. Add to this the application of advanced hybrid and composite material systems and the need to accurately deal with material variability is even greater. There still remain incidents of failure of critical components which were not properly accounted for by the existing analytical methods, testing, and inspections …

Review Of Emerging Approaches Utilizing Alternative Physiological Human Body Fluids In Non- Or Minimally Invasive Glucose Monitoring, Sunghoon Jang, Yu Wang, Andre Jang

Publications and Research

Diabetes can cause various acute as well as long-term complications in patients, with blood sugar levels of over 600 mg/dL, such as blindness, kidney disease, nervous & circulatory system disease, limb amputations, stroke, and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Frequent and regular blood glucose monitoring by diabetics and physicians is an essential step in the management of diabetes. Over the last five decades, there have been numerous attempts to develop viable painless non- or minimally invasive blood glucose monitoring techniques to replace all existing invasive methods, such as home blood glucose monitoring, which usually require drawing a blood sample by piercing the …

Large Scale Energy Signature Analysis: Tools For Utility Managers And Planners, Sukjoon Oh, John F. Gardner

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Building energy signature analysis is a well-established tool for understanding the temperature sensitivity of building energy consumption and measuring energy savings. This tool has been used to measure energy savings of residential, commercial, and even industrial buildings. The public availability of electricity loads (i.e., hourly electricity demand (MW)) from entire Balancing Authorities (BAs) provide an interesting opportunity to apply this approach to a large aggregate load. In this paper, we explore that opportunity for BAs and show that the correlations for large geographical areas are surprisingly coherent when the change-point linear regression analysis is used with the daily interval data …

Electrospray Deposition Of Polyvinylidene Fluoride (Pvdf) Microparticles: Impact Of Solvents And Flow Rate, Akinwunmi Joaquim, Omari Paul, Michael Ibezim, Dewayne Johnson, April Falconer, Ying Wu, Frances Williams, Richard Mu

TIGER Institute Faculty Research

Polymeric microparticles have been shown to have great impacts in the area of drug delivery, biosensing, and tissue engineering. Electrospray technology, which provides a simple yet effective technique in the creation of microparticles, was utilized in this work. In addition, altering the electrospray experimental parameters such as applied voltage, flow rate, collector distance, solvents, and the polymer-solvent mixtures can result in differences in the size and morphology of the produced microparticles. The effects of the flow rate at (0.15, 0.3, 0.45, 0.6, 0.8, and 1 mL/h) and N, N-Dimethylformamide (DMF)/acetone solvent ratios (20:80, 40:60, 60:40, 80:20, 100:0 v/v) in the …

Biofeedback Technologies As Extended Cognition: A Philosophical Analysis, Haesoo Park

Student Publications

Every year technologies become more sophisticated and more accessible. Some have become a seamless extension of mind, so much so that they are better understood no longer as tools, but as integral parts of how our mind works. Biofeedback devices are examples of such technologies that are increasingly used in institutional contexts and for personal use. They offer a presumed scientific and objective basis for life decisions and behavioral health interventions, as well as a promise of new forms of self-knowledge. Yet in the very design of biofeedback technologies are cultural and institutional values that are rarely critically appraised. This …

Advanced In Vitro Models For Studying Bone Physiology, Kairui Zhang

Dissertations - ALL

Bone is a highly calcified organic-inorganic composite tissue with complicated hierarchical structure. The presence of complex multi-cellular organization within opaque mineralized matrix makes it challenging to use conventional methods to study in vivo bone physiology even using model animals. To address this challenge, numerous in vitro models have been developed to study bone physiology under well-defined and repeatable experimental conditions although proving their physiological relevance remains a key challenge. This work aims to design and develop new in vitro models that better represent in vivo bone physiology with defined control over chemical and physical microenvironments, at low costs and high …

Neurochemical, Molecular, And Behavioral Effects Of Intranasal Insulin, Jennifer Marie Erichsen

Theses and Dissertations

Age-related cognitive decline (ARCD) is one of the most dreaded aspects of growing old and a public health concern. Unfortunately, there is currently no treatment that effectively ameliorates ARCD. In recent decades, intranasal insulin (INI) has demonstrated promising memory enhancements for rodents and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, both in basic science research laboratories and multi-center clinical trials. Other studies have shown INI improves memory and cognition in healthy rodents and humans, indicating that INI may hold promise as a successful ARCD therapeutic. However, there is a glaring lack of evidence regarding how INI produces these effects. The goal of these …

Role Of Ahr In The Epigenetic Regulation Of Immune Cells In Lungs During Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Bryan Latrell Holloman

Theses and Dissertations

Acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS) arises from pulmonary inflammatory diseases that stem from direct and indirect activation of immune cells. Severe complications from ALI/ARDS arise when inflammatory mediators initiate an overzealous immune response leading to the destruction of lung epithelial cell barriers, which causes systematic oxygen deprivation. Infiltrating innate immune cells drive the immune response during the acute phase of a lung injury. However, I3C, a naturally occurring AhR ligand found in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, collard greens, and kale, plays a crucial role in suppressing inflammatory mediators through its immunomodulatory functionality, which regulates both …

Optimization Of A Novel Barnes Maze Protocol For Assessing Antioxidant Treatment Of Traumatic Brain Injury, Connor C. Gee

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Current preclinical research into traumatic brain injury focuses heavily upon cellular and molecular testing to determine the effects of injury and potential benefits of neuroprotective treatments. While this may be a useful method, some argue that an increased focus on behavioral testing could lead to better clinical translation as these assays assess the longer term, downstream effects from a brain injury. The most characterized behavioral tests used in traumatic brain injury research are the spatial learning and memory paradigms, Morris Water Maze and Barnes Maze. The Morris Water Maze is the most used of theses paradigms and relies on spatial …

Fabrication Of Polymeric Microparticles Loaded With Zoledronic Acid To Treat Osteoarthritis, Yohely Maria Espiritusanto

Theses - ALL

Osteoarthritis (OA), a disease caused by wearing and tearing of articular cartilage, affectsover 32.5 million Americans. Synovial inflammation is now recognized as a major contributor to OA progression and pain. Activated synovial macrophages in an OA joint are believed to play a major role in low grade inflammation found in OA. Bisphosphonates such as zoledronic acid (ZA) are known to induce apoptosis specifically in macrophages and several of them are being evaluated as a disease-modifying osteoarthritis drug in clinical trials. However, ZA is rapidly cleared from the joint after systemic or localized direct injection into the joint. In this study …

Long Non-Coding Rna Pvt1 – An Exploratory Study In Ovarian And Endometrial Cancer, Kevin Tabury

Theses and Dissertations

Gynecological cancers, ovarian and endometrial cancer, are still leading causes of cancer-related death in women worldwide. Early detection methods as well as treatment resistance remain a challenge. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as therapeutic targets with diagnostic and prognostic potential with lncRNA PVT1 being one of them.

Here I test and demonstrate the role of PVT1 in ovarian cancer growth and metastasis. PVT1 is amplified and overexpressed in ovarian cancer and has predictive value for survival and response to targeted therapeutics. We find that expression of PVT1 is regulated by tumor cells in response to cellular stress, particularly loss …

Processing Time, Temperature, And Initial Chemical Composition Prediction From Materials Microstructure By Deep Network For Multiple Inputs And Fused Data, Amir Abbas Kazemzadeh Farizhandi, Mahmood Mamivand

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Prediction of the chemical composition and processing history from microstructure morphology can help in material inverse design. In this work, we propose a fused-data deep learning framework that can predict the processing history of a microstructure. We used the Fe-Cr-Co alloys as a model material. The developed framework is able to predict the heat treatment time, temperature, and initial chemical compositions by reading the morphology of Fe distribution and its concentration. The results show that the trained deep neural network has the highest accuracy for chemistry and then time and temperature. We identified two scenarios for inaccurate predictions; 1) There …

Effects Of Surface Topography On Macrophages And Bacterial Cells, Joseph Carnicelli

Theses - ALL

An association has been found between the texture of breast implants and anaplastic large cell lymphoma, which led to some textured implants to be withdrawn from the market in 2019. There is evidence that these cancers are associated with the harboring of bacteria on the surfaces of the textured implants. It is possible that specific topographic features hinder the removal of attached bacteria by inhibiting macrophage phagocytosis or promoting biofilm formation. Here we examine how bacteria and macrophages interact with recessive surface topographies as analogs to the surfaces seen on textured breast implants. Changes in bacteria morphology were observed among …

Optimizing Left Ventricular Assist Device Hemodynamics Via Patient Specific Computational Analysis, Jasmine Josefina Martinez

Theses and Dissertations

The best treatment for patients with end stage heart failure is a heart transplant but given the scarcity of donor hearts, a promising alternative treatment has become left ventricular assist devices (LVAD). However, complications such as right heart failure, stroke, and adverse hemodynamic outcomes continue to occur. This thesis will cover investigations into continuous flow LVAD treatment optimization techniques to improve patient outcomes. Optimization techniques explored include an in-house developed optimization algorithm that is completed in three phases on a computational lumped parameter model that is representative of the cardiovascular system using an electrical circuit analogy. This three-phase optimization technique …

Reduced Chest Computed Tomography Scan Length For Patients Positive For Coronavirus Disease 2019: Dose Reduction And Impact On Diagnostic Utility, Sara Principi, Stacy D. O'Connor, Frank Luba, Taly Gilat Schmidt

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Objective

This work aimed to retrospectively evaluate the potential of dose reduction on chest computed tomography (CT) examinations by reducing the longitudinal scan length for patients positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Methods

This study used the Personalized Rapid Estimation of Dose in CT (PREDICT) tool to estimate patient-specific organ doses from CT image data. The PREDICT is a research tool that combines a linear Boltzmann transport equation solver for radiation dose map generation with deep learning algorithms for organ contouring. Computed tomography images from 74 subjects in the Medical Imaging Data Resource Center–RSNA International COVID-19 Open Radiology Database data …

The Value Of High Intensity Locomotor Training Applied To Patients With Acute-Onset Neurologic Injury, Meghan Fahey, Gabrielle Brazg, Christopher E. Henderson, Abby Plawecki, Emily H. Lucas, Darcy S. Reisman, Brian D. Schmit, T. George Hornby

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The purpose of this review is to delineate some of the evidence regarding the effects of exercise intensity during locomotor training in patients with stroke and iSCI. We provide specific definitions of exercise intensity used within the literature, describe methods used to ensure appropriate levels of exertion, and discuss potential adverse events and safety concerns during its application. Further details on the effects of locomotor training intensity on clinical outcomes, and on neuromuscular and cardiovascular function will be addressed as available. Existing literature across multiple studies and meta-analyses reveals that exercise training intensity is likely a major factor that can …

Aqueous Humor Dynamics And Compound Action Potentials In The Anesthetized And Conscious Freely Moving Rat, Youssef Mohamed

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Vision is dependent on the proper functioning of many intricate components of the eye. Aqueous humor dynamics function to keep the eye inflated at the right pressures and nourish avascular tissue in the eye while properties of the corneoscleral shell dictate how dynamic changes in volume and pressure affect tissue at the optic nerve head. Retinal ganglion cells exit the globe at the optic nerve head and carry all of the visual information to the brain for perception of visual stimulus. In this dissertation, we aim to present a lumped parameter model of the eye that can accurately describe the …

A Protein-Based Therapeutic Combination For The Treatment Of Hard-To-Heal Wounds, Graham L. Strauss

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Chronic wounds present many clinical challenges in relation to the successful treatment and closure of the damaged tissue. Most current treatment methods focused on one or two aspects to drive wound closure, while most chronic wounds are multifactorial environments with many of those dependencies relying on the termination of one another to effectively gain tissue construction, closure, and full skin thickness and composition. Natural wound healing processes allude to potential biologics that can impede the chronic breakdown of tissue, while restoring deposition of new tissue, and effectively leading to a healed wound. Proteases secreted by the body’s immune system lay …

Role Of Epigenome In Regulation Of Inflammation By Ahr Ligands 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-P-Dioxin And 6-Formylindolo[3,2-B] Carbazole, Alkeiver Cannon

Theses and Dissertations

Autoimmune Hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the liver mediated by immune cells and characterized by a variety of parameters including circulating autoantigens, elevated immunoglobulin G (IgG) and aminotransferases, and interface hepatitis. Unfortunately, despite treatment with broadly immunosuppressive drugs, the disease progresses to cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease in several cases. In order to develop a more specific treatment, the mechanisms governing the liver injury resulting from inflammation and autoimmunity need to be elucidated.

For decades, activation of Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR) was excluded from consideration as a therapeutic approach due to the potential toxic effects of AhR …